It's All in the Numbers
by Laora
Summary: When Lily's life comes crashing down around her, one boy is ready to pick up the pieces.


**_10/8/12: _**_Just FYI, this story is—well—old XD;; I'm probably not going to delete it, or get around to editing it to my liking, so...I hope you enjoy it all the same? Or else read some of my newer stuff before deciding I'm a terrible author and moving on XD_

_Thanks so much for checking this out regardless! I really do appreciate it :)_

* * *

The morning of Monday, December seventh dawned bright and cheerful on the inhabitants of Hogwarts, and the residents of Gryffindor Tower bore witness to an all-too-common display that the school was quite familiar with when two certain people happened to be within fifty feet of each other—

The famous Potter-Evans arguments.

Well, arguments may have been too weak of a word. Perhaps volcanic eruptions, gigantic earthquakes, or ear-shattering foghorn battles would have been more accurate.

Anyhow, a certain James Potter had casually asked a redhead by the name of Lily Evans to accompany him on the next Hogsmeade visit, which happened to be that Saturday. As soon as the words had escaped his lips, all within hearing range immediately either covered their ears and backed away slowly, in the case of Remus Lupin had he not been mysteriously absent since two nights before, ran for cover under a couch, like one Peter Pettigrew, or conjured up popcorn and sat down on said couch to watch the spectacle, grinning, like Sirius Black, who happened to enjoy watching his best mate get hexed halfway across the room by the woman he loved.

"Don't ever try to fathom the mind of Sirius Black," Remus once wisely said.

So, whatever your reaction to those famous words, Miss Evans' answer was inevitable. "456th time lucky, Prongs?" Sirius called across the room to him. James ignored him, and continued to stare at the back of Lily's head.

Lily slowly turned around, her face red, and gave James a glare that would have sent anybody else fleeing for his life. Then she said, in a rather controlled voice, "What do you think my answer is, Potter?"

"Ye—" James began hopefully, hazel eyes lighting up.

"No, you toerag, what has been the answer, as Black so maturely informed us, the past 455 times?"

James looked crestfallen. "Won't you give me a—"

"No!" Lily yelled, her temper snapping. The Gryffindors were surprised that it had not happened earlier. "How many pranks have you and your little friends pulled, Potter, or can your tiny one-celled brain not count that high?"

James also flared up. "Evans, I would do anything for you! I would—"

"If you would do anything for me, why don't you do the one thing I want and _leave me alone_?" Without waiting for a reply, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the common room, leaving a very crestfallen James behind.

"C'mon, mate, let's go to breakfast," Sirius said, vanishing the popcorn and walking over to his best mate. James nodded silently, and the three Marauders walked down the seven floors to the Great Hall.

The post arrived a few minutes after they began eating, and many people were relieved to receive letters from their family, assuring them that they were alive and well. Everyone, but a certain Head Girl.

A scream could be heard from the end of the table opposite from where the Marauders were sitting, then loud crying. The Great Hall was silent as Lily Evans ran sobbing out of the Great Hall.

Her friends, Alena and Mary, immediately sprinted after her, and James was not far behind. Passing the girls somewhere in the Entrance Hall, he continued to follow Lily's sobs until he found her sitting in a corner on the fourth floor.

"Lily," he asked cautiously, deciding to use her first name, "What happened?"

James was sure that she did not recognize who he was, as she immediately thrust a piece of paper into his hands. Finally tearing his eyes off of Lily, he read the letter.

_Lily Evans, you freak! This is the last straw! I come home from Vernon's house last night, and what do I find but our parents dead, and a green skull floating above our house! I'm not stupid, freak, and I know that mum and dad were killed because of _you! _If you weren't so _abnormal_, this never would have happened! Our parents would still be alive! This is _your _fault! I never want to see you again!_

_Petunia_

James slowly looked up from the letter at the sobbing Lily in front of him. What kind of sister would do that?

"Lily?" he asked tentatively, sitting down next to her. She obviously still did not recognize him.

"I n-never thought they would d-die b-b-because of m-me, and n-now I d-don't have any f-family left…"

James pulled her closer, thinking how ironic it was—not an hour before, she had been calling him an arrogant toerag. "It's all right, Lily…" he said, knowing that it was a lie, but he didn't know what else to say. He hoped that Mary and Alena arrived soon—he had no idea what to do with hysterical girls.

They sat there a long time, or it could have been minutes for all James knew, but the girls finally appeared around the corner. They stopped dead when they saw Lily laying across James' lap. "Lily?" Alena asked tentatively. She looked up at them with extremely puffy eyes.

"Alena? Mary? But then who's…" she turned around to face James, and her face lost all color.

* * *

Lily was furious—breakfast had not even started, and that idiot Potter had already asked her out—the arrogant git!

The post arrived, and she saw her owl fly towards her. She thought nothing of it until she noticed that it was in Petunia's handwriting. _Why would Petunia write to me?_

She opened it curiously and read it. Her insides seemed to turn to ice. "No…_no…NO!_" she screamed the last word, though it was nearly unintelligible. She began sobbing uncontrollably. How could her parents be dead?

Not noticing that everyone was staring at her, she ran out of the Hall and tore blindly through the school, finally getting tired and sitting down in a corner.

A minute later, a voice interrupted her thoughts. "Lily, what happened?"

Not noticing that it was a masculine voice she knew all too well, and assuming that it was either Mary or Alena, she thrust the letter into her intruder's hands. The person was silent for a moment as he read the letter, then said, "Lily?"

Without thinking about the consequences, Lily began telling her unknown confidant everything. He was silent for a moment before saying, "It's all right, Lily…"

Her brain was screaming the exact opposite—how could her parents dead and being disowned by her sister be good?—but she did not have the energy to argue. How long she lay there in his lap she did not know, but she came to her senses when the voice of her best friend cut into her thoughts. "Lily?"

Lily looked up, and saw her too friends staring at her, looking extremely surprised. "Alena? Mary?" she choked, "But then who's…" the voice found the picture in her head, and she felt her face pale as she realized who she had been leaning on for sympathy. "Potter…" she snarled as well as she could, stumbling away from him. Alena and Mary were still staring at her as if she was some sort of alien.

"I…can…leave…" Potter began.

"You're not going anywhere," Lily said, trying to control her emotions, "How did you trick me?"

"I just came up and found you, and you told me basically everything, and then we just kinda sat here until your friends came." He shot an apprehensive glance at the two, "I can leave if you want me to…"

"Oh sure, just act like Mr Perfect, like nothing's wrong!" Lily screamed, feeling a fresh batch of tears coming up.

"Lily, I think you should go to the hospital wing…" James suggested tentatively.

"I am _not _done with you, Potter!" Lily yelled at him. "I might go to the hospital wing when I'm finished with you, but no earlier!"

James visibly cringed. "I know what you're going through…" he began. Lily was extremely skeptical.

"Really, you do? Mr James Potter, who has everything? Mr James Potter, whose entire family loves him? Mr James Potter, with the perfect life?" she scoffed, "as if!"

James' face darkened. "You're wrong," he told her quietly.

"Really?"

"Yes. I haven't seen my parents since before sixth year."

"And why's that?"

"Because they're dead."

* * *

Lily woke up in a very sterile, white bed. "Where am I?" she asked nobody in particular.

"You're in the hospital wing, hun," Alena said from her left, "Potter got his way after all."

Lily grimaced. When she turned her head toward her friends, however, her eyes were drawn to three seventeen-year-olds sitting around a bed, two with black hair and one with blonde.

"What's Lupin doing here?" she asked her friends. They shrugged.

"Black said something about a cold, but why would he be here for two days?"

Lily was silent for a moment. "Dunno." It took a moment for the memories of that morning to come back to her. When they did, they felt like an avalanche. Her parents—dead, disowned by her own sister…

She began to cry again, overwhelmed with it all. How strange it was, to think that that morning in the common room, she had been yelling at Potter for asking her out!

However, his last comment had really thrown her for a loop. She remembered, during one of the first weeks of their sixth year, that he had been quieter and much more subdued than usual. It had not seemed right. Over the next couple of weeks, he had set of more pranks than normal. That must have been his way of letting go of the grief!

Coming out of her reveries and stopping her crying somewhat, she sat up in bed. "I want to talk to Potter."

Alena and Mary looked completely taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." She got up out of bed and walked over to the bed that the Marauders were sitting around. "Potter?" she asked.

James spun around and stood up at lightning speed, as if he was trying to hide Lupin; however, he was not fast enough—Lily saw a deep, only partly healed gash down his arm that looked very painful. Pushing him out of her thoughts for the moment, she and James moved out of earshot, their five friends and Madame Pomfrey all gawking at them.

"Look, Potter…" she began.

"Don't worry about it," he said immediately, "You weren't thinking straight."

"I'm really sorry," she plowed on, "I shouldn't have bitten your head off like that."

"I said, don't worry about it," he repeated stubbornly.

"Since this morning," Lily continued, "I've been thinking that maybe, just _maybe_, you have matured more than I thought you ever could."

James' eyes grew as wide as Galleons. "So will you…"

Lily leaned forward, smirking. "457th time lucky, eh, Potter?" and she walked back to her bed. It took a minute before James realized what she had said.

"YES!" he bellowed, and proceeded to do the Marauder happy dance. This had only occurred twice in their history—when they successfully became Animagi, and when the Map was completed. Because the Marauders had reserved their happy dance for three specific things, they stared at James in awe.

"She…didn't…" Sirius began.

Completing the final back flip, James strutted over, looking, if possible, even more arrogant than normal. "Score!" he yelled, slapping Sirius on the back, "James Potter has a date this Saturday!"

His friends grinned appreciatively. "Good job, mate!" Peter said, slapping him on the back.

* * *

James' favorite number, from that day on, was 457. Reason number one was obvious. Remus also figured out that a span of 457 days passed between his parents' deaths and Lily's.

But he had no way of knowing that his firstborn son would be 457 days old when both of his parents would be killed, and the world would be forever changed.


End file.
